


cherry

by makeashadow_ao3



Series: It's a Pretty Fixation [4]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, meaning everything i write is a middle finger to canon, this is about as canon compliant as i get
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 20:32:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16456730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makeashadow_ao3/pseuds/makeashadow_ao3
Summary: He’s different, fuller, gruffer. Gone are the cargo pants and logo tees. But she recognizes a wolf in sheep’s clothing.





	cherry

**Author's Note:**

> title and lyrics from the lana del rey song.

**Boo-Kai 2k18  
** Day 6: _Colors_

_cherry_

“ _Bon_. Did you hear what I said?”

She had, in essence, heard his half-assed apology. “ _I wanted to apologize for anything I did that hurt you._ ”

She had all but smoothed the edges of her anxiety from the sensory overload when Damon showed up, which was weird since she got off the phone with him not an hour ago. Still, relief filled her up at the familiar face. She couldn’t quite hear him over the bass of the music but easily sensed his apprehension at something she couldn’t yet grasp.

That’s when _he_ stepped into view. At the sight of him in the dimly lit hallway, a flush came over her.

Fury.

“I heard you,” she says through gritted teeth. Both men appear taken aback by the fierce glare she sends them. “You know exactly what you did, knew it would hurt me, and you did it anyway. So, yeah, I heard you and I don’t forgive you.”

Blinking rapidly, he steps forward. “I… I, uh…”

Damon stands beside him as an aid. “What Kai means to say is that he’s sorry. Really sorry. Totally apologetic about everything he did back in the nether-nineties.”

Emerald eyes blaze towards the vampire. “You don’t need to speak for him. And I told you I didn’t want to see him!” She scoffs. “You’re as bad as he is.”

That shakes him out of his daze. True, he’s taken cues from the Salvatore’s lead in the past. If he really thought on it, he’d admit he’s acted towards Bonnie in ways he’s either seen or heard Damon treat her. She’d said there was hope for him because he felt remorse. She came back all thirteen times, didn’t she? But, thanks in part to the soul merge, Kai is levels above the emotionally stunted bloodsucker and doesn’t take kindly to the comparison.

He takes another step towards her. She stands her ground. “I shot you with a bow. Choked you in the car. Drugged you, stuffed you in the trunk of another car, and when you still refused to help me I gutted you with the same knife I stabbed my twin sister. And then I left. You’re right. I know what I did and I’m sorry for _everything_.”

She flinches at every one of his crimes laid bare to her. Memories flash again at the recount, her muscle memory flaring with every wound, every haggard breath, every tear.

“If you give me a chance,” he goes on. “I want to make it up to you.”

“What do you want?”

His face crumples in confusion. “What?”

“You’re apologizing because you want something, right?”

His face remains the same befuddled mask, so she juts her chin at Damon. “ _Right_?”

“Actually…” The elder Salvatore comes closer and that’s when she takes a step back. No way she’ll let these two box her in. “I need his help and he wouldn’t budge unless I bought him here.”

Her eyes narrow then shift back to the witch. “I don’t see where I come in.” She and Kai stare each other down. He’s different, fuller, gruffer. Gone are the cargo pants and logo tees. But she recognizes a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is an equation and she doesn’t know the missing variable yet. This is her in the woods calling his bluff.

“I need—"

“I don’t give a damn about what you need.”

His jaw ticks like it’s wont to do when she thwarts him. “Fine.” He grabs her wrist, mutters _I_ _nvisique_ , and tugs her down the hallway. Damon spins, left dumbfounded about the vanishing witches.

Partiers in neon blur past as Kai drags her into the women’s restroom and pushes her into a Miami pink stall. Her magic burns her inside out, and he snatches his hands to his chest, palms singed. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

“Message received loud and clear, but you need to listen to me.”

“What part of _I don’t forgive you_ don’t you understand?”

“The part where Damon’s mother was locked in a prison world because she’s a ripper and he wants me to let her out.”

The admission doesn’t take the fire out of her belly but it does leave it smoldering ready to be rekindled at the slightest gust of wind. “How do you know?”

“My family imprisoned her there.” He huffs, relieved she retains some shred of reason.

“So, you do need my help.”

“What? _No_.” Kai shakes his head. He knows he did a number on her, he lies awake riddled with guilt, but this instinct of hers that questions the authenticity of an apology… He's not the evolutionary impetus for that. “Damon wants me to get her out, which I can but I won’t. I think he’ll try to use you to convince me.”

“You used him to get to me. Two peas in a pod, I’d say.”

“I only wanted to see you. He wants to release mommy dearest who has a kill count in the thousands.” His chest heaves in aggravation, and if Bonnie didn’t know any better she’d think Kai found a moral compass of sorts. “I’ve been baiting him like a dog chasing his notched tail all day. You think he’s going to lose interest and just roll over?”

She chews on the inside of her cheek. Friendship with Damon Salvatore is like taking two giant steps forward and resetting a mile back. The one person who can completely empathize with her, who was also there trapped, wants to waltz right into that godawful place for someone a group of witches saw fit to lock away.

Every synapse warns her against trusting him, but she believes Kai. There is nothing inside of her that wants to exist on the same plane of reality as him, let alone in this tiny stall where she can't move without grazing against him, but there’s no way she’s going back to any prison world. And she’ll be damned if another prisoner gets out.

“What do you need me to do?”

_my cherries and wine, rosemary and thyme, and all of my peaches are ruined (fuck!)_

**Author's Note:**

> i knew i couldn't do a drabble for every day of book-kai, but i was going to try my damndest to finish strong.


End file.
